How much room does a goat need?

[the simple life]

I was at a local nursery the other day and they have a petting zoo there.
I was amazed at how many animals they had crammed into a pen.
I asked them if they kept them there all the time and he said yeah their fine they have a dry place to go, which is just an overhang in the pen.
He made the dry place to go remark because when I was there over the summer he had a few goats and they were in those wire dog kennel type cages and it was downpouring. I complained about it to him back then.

They had 6 goats, chickens, a turkey and some sheep in a 10x12 pen, the next pen over had some sheep, more goats and a mini donkey in it and so on, there were 3 like that.
The guy got mad when I said something and said that he was licensed and his housing was fine.
They have more goats than anything, what is the max number in a 10x12 pen for a goat?

 

[Countrywife]

Personally, the only time I would keep ONE goat like that is if it was kidding, injured or ill. But, as long as it is clean and they have room to lay down I guess it is ok, just not a happy life for a goat.

 

[ksalvagno]

I'm not sure what number of goats is good for a 10x12 area but from the sounds of it, there are too many animals in a pen. Especially if they are stuck there all the time. I have 8 goats in a 12x30 area and I wouldn't add too many more to that. They do also have access to an overhang area and they do have pasture to go out to. Makes a big difference.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Sounds like he's JUST trying to make a buck without consideration of the animals at all. That's sad, but some people honestly don't "get it." I'm not one to say animals have feelings or emotions, but that is definately less than they deserve as far as quality of life and health! I think it's ridiculously selfish to treat animals that way in the name of a dollar. I wouldn't go all edited to remove unallowed reference on him, but I might offer to take some of those animals off his hands...if I had room and the cash to do so. But....then again he would likely just go get more. Pretty soon he will find out that they can't be kept that way when he looses everything he's got due to disease, and poor living environment. Some people just have to learn the hard way.

 

[allanimals21]

My goat pen right now is 51 X 93? something like that...I plan to make it bigger in the future.

 

[lemurchaser]

Ask him who he's licensed through? There isn't any licensing for petting zoos that I know of.

Let him know that you can't support that sort of thing and will be taking your business elsewhere (write a letter maybe). He's doing it for the money, so letting him know it is losing him money is the best way to discourage it.

You could also lodge a complaint through a local animal control agency. They probably won't do anything, but there are housing requirements for animals.

 

[lemurchaser]

I searched for minimum housing requirements for goats. This site http://www.allgoats.com/housing.htm says the minimum is 2 square meters per goat.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Yeah, my three sided shelters are about that size, not the whole pen. And as bad as it is for the goats, it's even worse for the poor donkey. Mini donks can get very obese and like all equines, they can suffer serious health consequences from lack of exercise. Do the animals live there full time or are they just placed in there for times to be petted?

I don't know if you can do anything about it, but I would at least complain to animal control.

 

[protodon]

When I was building my shelter I went by the 25 sq ft per goat listed on ADGA. That is really outside space but I calculated it for inside space as I was building. Now that that I have goats I find that I really can put quite a few more in there. The shelter is 4 sided with door in and out but they have access to an outside fenced area. I keep 2 goats in an 8x8 area and 3 goats in an 8 x 16 area. I wouldn't hesitate to add a couple more goats to either but if the goats don't have access to large outdoor areas or pasture then I think it would be a problem and that sounds like the case at this nursery/petting zoo. Not to mention the fact that it sounds like sheep,chickens and turkeys are all kept in the same pen? Unless I read the original post wrong. But all I can say is that's a lot of poop for a small area.

 

[the simple life]

I asked him if they were there temporarily and he said no they live there full time.
The animals are all mixed in together, off to the side of the pen there is a small overhang and a half door that was locked.
That door leads into what I am assuming would be a sleeping area but its only about 2x2 or 2x3 so I don't know where all of them can fit.
Its disturbing to say the least.
I actually stopped shopping there because the wasn't getting any product in, its seemed like his lot was empty every time I went there so I stopped going.
Then when we went Christmas tree shopping I went there and found they had put in an ice cream stand, petting zoo and some type of kiddie ride. It seems they are grasping at straws for business, yet they still don't have much to shop for there.
Now I just don't want to give him my business because of the way he is using his animals.